Eric Cressey-
Shoulder savers part 1
Shoulder Saver #3: Learn to Bench Press Correctly.
This might very well be the most important one of all. I must admit that when I see a lifter benching with his elbows flared and his back flat, it makes me cringe — not only because he's ruining his shoulders, but also because he's really limiting his strength potential.
There's an old saying that a lot of great bench pressers have repeated when discussing the importance of the upper back in benching: "You can't shoot a cannon out of a canoe." If you don't have the underlying stability to press big weights, the soft tissues of the shoulder joint are going to suffer the consequences.
Stability is affected by both neuromuscular factors
and positional factors; simply repositioning yourself on the bench can markedly increase your strength without any chronic changes to your neuromuscular system's ability to move the weight.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Line up on the bench so that your eyes are about 3-4 inches toward your feet from the bar (in other words, the bar is almost directly above the top of your head). From there, retract your shoulder blades hard. Next, push yourself back up until your eyes are directly under the bar; at this position, your scapulae should still be retracted, but also depressed down toward your feet as well. If you do it right, your rib cage should pop right up.
2. Set your feet, and lock them into place. The position of the feet is going to be dependent on a number of factors, but what doesn't change is the fact that they need to be fixed in place.
3. Decide on what degree of arch you want to use. For general health purposes, it doesn't need to be much. Obviously, powerlifters are going to need to push the envelope on this front. The more arch, the more it'll feel like a decline bench press. Declines will always be easier on the shoulder girdle than flat bench pressing.
4. Grasp the bar and USE A HANDOFF from your training partner. Lifting off to yourself is a sure-fire way to lose the tightness you've just established in your upper back. Keep the shoulder blades back and down!
5. As you lower the bar, keep the upper arms at a 45-degree angle to the torso; tuck the elbows instead of letting them flare out. It's well documented that the elbows-flared ("bodybuilder-style") bench markedly increases stress on the glenohumeral joint. Also, keep your wrists under your elbows instead of letting them roll back.
6. Get a belly full of air and make the abdomen and chest rise up to meet the bar as it descends. Think of it as creating a springboard for moving big weights and, just as importantly, keeping those shoulder blades back to save your taters from undue stress.
7. Do not excessively protract the shoulder blades at the top of the rep; you shouldn't lose your tightness prior to descending into the subsequent rep.